


in the still of the night

by kyouyaed



Series: lay that pistol down, babe [8]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Fallout 4 AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 19:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11835585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyouyaed/pseuds/kyouyaed
Summary: “You are willing to risk death. Unreasonable. For what purpose?”That was the easiest thing to answer. He could have laughed. “Freedom,” he said simply.The terrors of the Commonwealth seem minuscule compared to being forced back into the Institute.





	in the still of the night

**Author's Note:**

> quick reminder before you start this chapter: Billy's synth designation was R6-25, and Red Harvest's was X7-33. :)  
> this chapter has not been edited. i will edit when i get a chance. please enjoy!

The air was acrid and dust stung as his eyes as he stumbled along the mostly destroyed road. Radiation tasted heavy on his tongue and there was a faint tingle in his fingers from it as well. Above him, clouds tinged green had rolled in. Behind him, he had already seen the irradiated lightning strike an unfortunate tree. There was a storm, and R6-25 was struggling to get away from it.

When he'd woken up on the surface of the Commonwealth, R6 had one thing in his mind: find the Railroad contact and get to safety. But when he'd reached the building that he'd been told to go to, it was... Horrifying. Bodies were strewn along the ground, and one was even mounted on a post, blood still dripping down and visible even from where R6 took cover. Men and women paced around the building, decked out with guns and armor and dogs, and R6 knew he couldn't stay there. He'd taken off as soon as he could convince his legs to move, and he hadn't looked back at the gruesome sight since.

The Commonwealth was nothing like he'd thought it would be. He hadn't pictured something pristine, like the Institute. Just from conversations he'd overheard from scientists lead him to believe that the Commonwealth was far from perfect, but... The last thing R6 had expected was _this_. A devastated wasteland, with the plants that survived being prickly and tough, snagging his clothes as he moved by. Radiation in the clouds and lightning that left behind a sour smell as it burned trees in its wake. Decrepit buildings lurked on the horizon, people who slaughtered others for seemingly _nothing_ and R6 had only just managed to skirt a group of large, terrifying green things with clubs and rumbling voices that almost made R6 yearn for the safety of the Institute. _Almost_.

There was not a damn thing that could make R6-25 miss the Institute.

Even as he fought his own exhaustion, fought the need to just lay down and let the radiation storm take him. He couldn't do that. He couldn't just... Give up. After all he and so many other synths went through to get out, R6 couldn't give up. Maybe he was unimportant, maybe he wouldn't have a significant impact on the world, like help bring this wasteland hell into something brighter, newer. Maybe all R6 would be good for was wandering around, trading when he could, exploring. Even if he wasn't important, R6 couldn't go back, and he wouldn't waste this. He wouldn't waste the opportunity Yale had given him. _Yale..._

So he pushed forward. The road beneath him was cracked, tree roots pushing through and threatening R6's footing where uneven chunks of asphalt didn't. The radiation storm loomed, thunder shaking the ground as R6 moved. He had to get out of the storm. Had to find cover.

R6 recoiled when the first drop of rain hit his skin. It was... Cold, but it left a painful tingling sensation along his skin. Another drop hit, and R6 pushed himself into a run as the rain began a steady tap-tap-tap-tap around and on him. Every drop hurt and the thunder shook his feet out from under him every time.

As he ran, he prayed for dumb luck. Of any kind, really. A decrepit building to hide in, or an old bus, or at the very least that the radiation lightning wouldn't hit him and that he could get out of the storm in one piece. He stopped counting the amount of times he'd fallen, stopped trying to pick asphalt and rock out of his palms and face and knees. He'd started ignoring the painful tingle from the rain, and R6-25 focused on running.

He didn't know how long he ran for, but the rain persisted. It was coming down in painful sheets now, and R6 ached. He was falling more frequently, the sheeted rain near blinding him so he missed all of the tree roots and the dips in the road. And he nearly missed the building almost directly in front of him as well. R6 fell, his hands slipping on the mud soaked asphalt, his head smacking the ground with the force of his fall. Around him, thunder boomed, shaking trees and shattering glass.

Wait, glass? R6 jerked himself off of the ground, his vision swimming and his head aching. Thunder shot off again and R6 shook his head until his vision cleared. Glass shattered again and R6 squinted through the rain, nearly sobbing in relief when he saw the faint shape of a house. A house! He scrambled to his feet, only slipping twice, and he rushed toward the house. As he got closer, he noticed several holes in the walls but, frankly, he didn't care. Shelter was shelter, and there had to be something dry in there!

R6 stifled a relieved laugh as he found the house door, thankfully unlocked, and he stepped in. He leaned against the door tiredly and he peered around the room.

It was almost too dark for him to see, but what he could make out showed that the room was empty. No furniture and, most importantly, no people. R6 sighed and stepped away from the door. He moved further into the room, squinting through the darkness as he looked for a place to wait out the storm. The room seemed relatively dry and R6 decided on the corner furthest from the door so if someone else came in seeking shelter they would be less likely to notice him.

With a trembling sigh, R6 slid down the wall and tucked himself in the corner. Outside, the storm raged. He was so incredibly thankful to be out of that mess. His skin still ached from where the rain had hit but it was definitely bearable. Absently, R6 rubbed his palms together and winced. There were still chunks of rock in his skin. Hissing through his teeth, he set about the careful task of plucking the rock out of his palms before he moved on to his knees and then his face.

Thunder shook the house, and R6 pulled his knees to his chest. He turned his head when a streak of lightning struck just outside. He really had dodged a bullet. Dumb luck had pulled him out of that one by the scruff of his neck.

“R6-25.”

Or not. R6 jerked so violently that the back of his head smacked against the wall and his vision split and went black for a few seconds. His mouth tasted metallic when his vision cleared and he squinted up through the black at the speaker. His artificial heart stopped.

Standing before R6-25, too tall and strength rolling off him in waves, was a Courser. A _Courser_ no less. Terrifying and clad all in black, blending into the night well, with sunglasses covering his eyes despite the fact that it was dark and storming; the Courser held himself tall and tense, arms tight at his sides, and those covered eyes... R6 felt the weight of them pressing into him, picking him apart for weaknesses. R6 had been warned about this. Coursers always came. Until a synth was safely reprogrammed and smuggled out of the Commonwealth, the Coursers came. R6 had never thought he was important enough for a Course to come for him, though. He wasn't anything special. He was R6-25, just another malfunctioning synth reduced to running menial errands for the Synth Retention Bureau.

“You are to return to the Institute with me,” the Courser said in that flat voice that all Coursers were known for. The flat voice that R6 himself spoke in.

“...I'm...” R6 swallowed past the metallic taste and forced himself to speak. “I am not going back there.”

“I can and will take you by force if I must.” The Courser took a step forward and R6 struggled to push himself up the wall. Halfway there, his knees gave out and R6 dropped back onto the floor. “...Why... Why do you not wish to return?”

R6 started. Was the Courser actually asking him that?

“Answer me,” the Courser ordered.

“There is more to the world than the Institute,” R6 decided to say. “I am going to see it. Even if I die in the process.”

For a few long minutes, the Courser didn't respond. He simply stood there, staring at R6. His stare was still so heavy and dissecting and if R6 could have shied away from it, he would have. But there was no escaping a Courser's gaze if they didn't want you to and R6 knew there was no way this Courser would let him go. So maybe all he got to see of this world was carnage, monsters, and destruction. It was still far better than what the Institute had ever offered him. If he died here, that was fine. If he was taken back to the Institute and reset, at least he saw something. Even if he wouldn't remember it in the future.

“There is... Much to see in the Commonwealth,” the Courser spoke, startling R6 again.

“The world,” insisted R6. He tensed when the Courser stepped toward him, only stopping when their toes brushed. R6 watched with wide eyes as the Courser crouched down in front of him.

“No synth has seen the world,” the Courser informed him. The Courser reached for him, moving so quickly that R6 didn't have a chance to move. Leather wrapped hands gripped both of R6's wrists and yanked them toward the Courser, palms up. “You are too fragile,” the Courser stated. R6 hazarded a glance at his own palms. Even in the darkness he could tell they were caked with dirt and blood. He was sure his face didn't look much better and his knees ached similarly.

“Maybe,” R6 croaked out, startled by the roughness of his voice. The Courser's touch was truly that frightening. “I want to risk it, Courser.”

The Courser's grip tightened around R6's wrists for a moment and he winced. “My designation is X7-33. You will address me as such.” His grip loosened on R6's wrists but he didn't let the synth go. “You are willing to risk death. Unreasonable. For what purpose, R6-25?”

That was the easiest thing to answer. R6 could have laughed. “Freedom,” he said simply. X7-33 stilled, his grip tightening again around R6's wrists. R6 swallowed audibly, staring at the blank expression that every Courser had. It was infuriating, no matter the situation. Coursers were impossible to read and that was the point. But here, now, R6's wrists tight in X7-33's hands and X7-33 showing no sign of letting go, it was frustrating to not know what was going through the other synth's mind.

When X7-33 let his wrists go, the storm outside had let up. The thunder was so far that it was almost inaudible and the rain had stopped altogether. R6 hadn't seen a streak of lightning since the moments before X7-33 walked in, so he was fairly confident that if he got to leave, he would be safe to travel.

X7-33 stood stiffly, R6 watching him warily. He tensed when X7-33 reached into one of the many pockets the Courser uniform coat no doubt had.

“Take this,” X7-33 said, holding something above R6's head. R6 squinted up at the object that X7-33 promptly dropped into his lap. “It is a Stimpack. I was instructed to use it on you before retrieving you to reduce any possible damage you sustained. Use it.”

R6 hesitated before plucking the Stimpack out of his lap. He twisted it around in his fingers, studying it in silence. His fingers ghosted over the needle at the bottom of the syringe and he frowned.

“Why are you giving it to me?” he asked, looking to the Courser.

“...Freedom,” X7-33 said simply. “Goodbye, R6-25. May our paths never cross in the future. I will not offer you my pity again.”

If R6 had not been watching, he would have missed X7-33's exit entirely. It was no wonder how the Courser had managed to get the drop on him earlier. The storm coupled with a Courser's natural heightened stealth made X7-33 nearly impossible to detect. The door didn't even make a sound when X7-33 shut it behind him and just as quickly and silently as the Courser arrived, he vanished.

R6 pressed his lips together and turned his attention back to the Stimpack in his hands. He ran his fingers over it, taking in the strange shape and the material it was made of. He was hesitant to use it, if only because X7-33 might have done something to it. But... If the Courser had wanted him dead or in custody, there was no doubt in R6's mind that he would be dead or in X7-33's custody. It didn't benefit the Courser to kill R6 through this.

Taking a deep breath, R6 plunged the needle into his exposed forearm. It hissed and he shuddered at the feel of something being released into his bloodstream. Carefully, R6 pulled the Stimpack from his arm and he discarded it. His arm tingled where the Stimpack went in and he shook out his arm. His head swam at the motion and R6 let out a sharp sigh.

He needed to rest. A rested mind was a clear mind, so R6 would be able to figure out what he was going to do in the morning, what with the Railroad safe house he'd been sent to being overrun by murderers. Maybe rest would give the Stimpack time do … Whatever it was that it was supposed to do. And it was night, and the storm had passed. If R6 was lucky, no one would come into the house. (He ignored the fact that 'luck' brought him a Courser.) R6 sighed yet again and slumped down further into his corner, resting his head against the wall. His eyes slipped closed and it only took him a few minutes to fall into an exhausted sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> ... yo. sorry it's been so long. love that writer's block and depression //sarc. but i really do just got... that damn writer's block, plus i don't have that many friends who are interested in The Magnificent Seven, so i don't have people i can really talk to about this au and bounce ideas off of and stuff. so it takes even longer trying to work through writer's block and being so damn self critical.
> 
> thank you guys for reading and sticking around! and Mari_Knickerbocker, your comment on the last chapter was again so beautiful and lovely! i've been reading it a lot these past months, even if i haven't been writing. thank you!
> 
> so i hope y'all enjoyed this look at Billy's past. and... Red Harvest. yea!!! i played around with their relationship a lot and finally decided... on this. i actually really love it, especially cause they're my favorite characters from the movie. it's fun writing them, especially writing Billy before he became, well, Billy. I'll definitely be writing more about Billy as R6 and stuff cause i'm really invested in that whole concept (not even mentioning how invested i personally am in this whole au ofc) but i'm!! really excited again for this au! it helps that i started a new save file in fallout 4 so i can be in that zone.
> 
> umm. i could honestly ramble about this au and my thoughts on it forever so i'll stop here and let that be enough. thank you all so much for supporting me and being patient and kind to me. it means so, so, so much. and, as always, please feel free to let me know your thoughts either in the comments or on [tumblr](http://conspiracieys.tumblr.com/ask)!! thank you all again!


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